The wonderful music of James Ross got its premiere this spring with hundreds of children from all over the county coming together in an evening of beautiful music making.

The first French exchange also took place with orchestras moving in two directions all in the same year. First to Paris where a special performance (one of three) took place in the Irish Embassy for the ambassador.

In Ireland we decided to introduce the visitors to as much culture as possible so we roped in our friends from Coole music in Gort and got the whole group to learn dancing together as well as many other Irish activities. To this day there is still movement between Paris and Galway as a result of this first exchange.

Our ongoing friendship with Music for Galway this year resulted in a visit to the school by Concert pianist John O’Conor. Such a wonderful storyteller and musician and one with a huge passion for Galway and its development (more of this later).